Document text
Shaping pots � and a city John Dodero of Jacksonville is an artist and a politician. But after 12 years, he�s leaving the City Council. By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � In the fall, when it�s potter�s weather, you can find John Dodero standing at the wheel, his big hands gently and skillfully shaping clay pots. He�s making pieces that will sell for up to $600 in galleries and garden shops from San Francisco to New York. But in his hometown, Dodero is a like a prophet without honor, a controversial figure better known for sculpting land-use laws that defined how this National Historic Landmark town would grow. And after 12 years on the Jacksonville City Council, the potter-turned-politician plans to retire when his council term expires in January. "He�s been good for Jacksonville," said silversmith Chauncey Romero, who carries Dodero pottery in his Jacksonville gallery and custom jewelry shop called Silver Lining. "When you take on the positions that he�s taken on, it�s controversial. He stands up for what he feels is best for this town. I really respect him for that." Dodero�s pots sell almost as quickly as they are shipped to Carol Kucera Gallery, an exclusive shop in downtown Santa Fe, N.M., said the gallery�s owner. "And Santa Fe is a hard nut to crack because there are so many artists and so much competition," Kucera said. "But when I put his art in the gallery, it flies out the door." In Jacksonville, however, Dodero himself was nearly sent flying out the door because of his votes on controversial cases. A decade ago, he kept the Britt Festivals from building a parking lot on wooded acreage that�s now part of a six-mile, public hiking trail system. And his efforts transformed a 60-home, grid-style project into the 38-home, historic-looking Pheasant Meadows subdivision. "People could have a differing opinion, but they would always respect John because he was looking out for the good of the town," Mayor Jim Lewis said. Dodero�s most controversial vote came last year when he denied a new sanctuary for the town�s oldest church, First Presbyterian. The Seattle Times quoted Dodero as saying, "You think you�ve got God on your side, you are exempt from zoning?" "Someday he will see that churches really aren�t that bad, that they don�t bring bad things to a community," said Bruce Woolf, the Jacksonville resident who led the Presbyterian�s building committee. In the same breath, however, Woolf praised Dodero for his work during the heated hearings about a proposed bypass highway in Jacksonville. "Of all the people on the council, he was the one who really listened," Woolf said. "He was looking at the bigger picture, rather than a Band-Aid effect, and he seemed to be the odd man out on the votes." After a dozen years battling cases, several of which ended up with the state�s Land Use Board of Appeals, the 54-year-old potter is ready to direct his energies elsewhere. He needs to focus on his trade and start thinking about his retirement. "It�s time to move over and let someone else have this great opportunity," Dodero said. Dodero has been Jacksonville�s land-use sage, according to Mayor Lewis, a 15-year veteran of Jacksonville politics. "I think John�s perspectives have brought balance to our deliberations," said the Navy captain and former attorney. "He has ideas that don�t occur to the rest of us and that made him particularly valuable as a councilor." Dodero was anti-growth when he first moved to this tiny burg from the Santa Cruz mountains, he said. "But then I realized that market forces would determine how fast Jacksonville would grow," Dodero said. "We needed to control the supply of available land and not mess with the rate of development." He was the lone dissenting vote that stopped the city from creating a lottery system that would have artificially controlled growth after the lifting of a construction moratorium resulting from an inadequate water system. Dodero�s alternative was to poll residents and use the results to write a vision statement to shape Jacksonville�s growth. Another of Dodero�s legacies is the parking permit system that began this summer. The permits are designed to protect residential parking spots from the 1,000 or more cars that descend on this small town during the Britt Festivals. And Dodero feels he and fellow City Council members did their best to control Jacksonville�s growth: "We projected 30 to 40 homes a year would be built, and that�s what has been happening." Still, Jacksonville has become one of the most desirable places to live in Jackson County, with the average home price rising above even Ashland�s. Yet for the season of life that the artist finds himself in, it may be time to move on to New Mexico, a state that celebrates its potters. "John is a master raku artist," said Kucera, the Santa Fe gallery owner. Dodero also will be closer to the source of inspiration for his earlier work, pottery created by the Membres Indians who lived in southwestern New Mexico from 950 to 1150. "I think Oregon is the most progressive state in the union, politically," he said. "But I don�t think it�s healthy to stay in one place for too long." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA